Jadeja’s appeal accepted by ICC

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Ravindra Jadeja

Calcutta: India have been allowed to appeal against the Level 1 charge brought against Ravindra Jadeja for his alleged role in the confrontation involving James Anderson on the second day of the Trent Bridge Test. The ICC confirmed on Wednesday that it had accepted the request “after receiving legal submissions from the BCCI”.

“The ICC today confirmed that, after receiving legal submissions from the BCCI, it has accepted India’s Ravindra Jadeja’s request for an appeal against the recent decision by match referee David Boon.

“The player was found guilty of an offence under Article 2.1.8 of the Code of Conduct and fined 50 per cent of his match fee. The appeal will be heard at the same time as the disciplinary hearing taking place in respect of the charge against James Anderson on Friday, August 1, in Southampton. His Honour Gordon Lewis AM, will oversee proceedings via videoconference.

“The ICC will make no further comment on this matter until the hearing is concluded,” the ICC statement said on Wednesday.

Jadeja, who was charged by England under a Level 2 offence but found guilty by match referee Boon of a lesser Level 1 offence, had originally not been allowed an appeal.

India will have Jadeja, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, physio Evan Speechly and coach Duncan Fletcher at the hearing, along with their lawyers.

On July 25, Jadeja was fined 50 per cent of his match fee after being found guilty by Boon. The BCCI immediately made public its dissatisfaction with the verdict and said it reserved the right to appeal.

According to the ICC’s appeals process, penalties for a Level 1 offence were non-appealable, unless it was a second such penalty levied on the player within a 12-month period.

Jadeja had been docked 10 per cent of his match fee for using offensive language against Shane Watson in an ODI in November 2013, but that was under section 2.1.4 of the code, while this is a level 2.1.8 offence, meaning that an appeal was initially ruled as invalid.

The penalty imposed on Jadeja did not go down well with Dhoni, who found the match referee’s decision unjustified and termed it “hurtful”.

“To me, it is a very hurtful decision,” Dhoni, who was witness to the incident, said on the eve of the third Test.

“A lot of things were neglected in judging the case. If you see, what exactly happened, the umpires called for lunch and we started walking.

“I don’t want to take any other individual’s name. We started walking, and the other individual started using foul language against Jadeja... I had to step in the middle.”